"How extravagant."

On the slope, Zheng Fan, gazing at the Jin Emperor's returning procession, couldn't help but sigh.

According to the rules of the Yan Kingdom, a chief general could take his personal troops with him when transferred to a new location. Zheng Fan didn't stand on ceremony. Everything remaining in Cui Liu Fort, except for the bricks and tiles that were inconvenient to carry, was taken, leaving not even a single embroidery needle for his successor.

Despite this, Cui Liu Fort's side, with all sorts of luggage, goods, large and small packages, carts and carriages, really looked no different from a group of country bumpkins escaping disaster when compared to the Jin Emperor's procession.

"The Jin Emperor probably wants to emulate Liu Shan," the blind man said. "The Yan Emperor also wants the Jin Emperor to live well and put on a show for the rulers of other countries."

"Who doesn't like to enjoy themselves?"

"My lord is right."

"I heard that the old family head of the Situ family recently passed away?" Zheng Fan asked.

"Yes, my lord, just died. Rumor in Jin is that because the family head of the He Lian family and the family head of the Wen Ren family had both passed away, and they had been competing against each other their whole lives, the family head of the Situ family followed."

"Heh, rushing to the underworld to play 'Happy Landlord'?"

"There are rumors in the Yan Kingdom saying that the Situ family's old family head died somewhat suspiciously. According to the last message sent by the Sixth Prince, the Yan Emperor seemed to have offered the Situ family's old family head the same treatment as the Jin Emperor, and even allowed him to retain a larger fief."

"Also be an emperor?"

"This wouldn't be an emperor, but something similar to a Prince, similar to what Joseon and the Central Plains had in the past."

"Oh, like that. And then, he died?"

"Yes."

"Hopefully, there won't be any more trouble over there."

"This subordinate also hopes so. However, since the Situ family's old family head just died, and the Jin Kingdom just had half of its territory collapse, the Situ family should also be in a state of panic. According to common sense, there shouldn't be any major conflicts breaking out in the short term."

"Mm."

The messenger had already gone to announce their presence. A short while later, the messenger returned and conveyed the Jin Emperor's "permission."

The Yan Emperor did not lower the Jin Emperor's national status, so the Jin Emperor was still the ruler of a country. It was said that when the Yan Emperor met the Jin Emperor, the Jin Emperor addressed himself as "the ruler of a lesser nation," but was corrected by the Yan Emperor:

"You should call yourself '朕' (zhen, I, the emperor)."

From then on, the Cui Liu Fort's team and the Jin Emperor's team merged into one, heading together towards the Ma Ti (Horse Hoof) Mountain range.

This journey took ten days. The team finally passed through the Ma Ti Mountain range and officially set foot in Jin territory.

However, the area belonging to the Jin Emperor's own sphere of influence was only the original capital region plus another layer, which was the so-called country within a country.

Along the way, not just Zheng Fan, but the other Demon Kings were also trying to find a way to have a chance encounter with the Jin Emperor.

But none of them succeeded. This Jin Emperor stayed inside his large carriage the whole time, hardly ever getting out. Eating, drinking, and relieving himself were all done inside the carriage, as if he were extremely weak and couldn't stand the wind at all.

However, the problem now was that if they didn't have an "encounter" soon, the Jin Emperor's team would continue eastward, and Zheng Fan's team would have to go northeast. The two teams were about to part ways.

However, this Jin Emperor didn't give Zheng Fan even the slightest chance, being surprisingly well-behaved.

Originally, according to the old master Wen Su Tong, Zheng Fan should seize the time to establish a relationship with the Jin Emperor, and it would be best to form some kind of tacit understanding with him.

An emperor is, after all, an emperor. As long as it doesn't threaten his own safety and that of his family, he can't possibly be too complacent and will always be thinking of doing something.

With the Jin Emperor's help, Zheng Fan would be able to gain a foothold in Jin more quickly, and it would also be of great benefit to his future development.

It was a pity. After all the calculations, until they separated and watched the Jin Emperor's huge team head far to the east, Zheng Fan hadn't been able to meet Jin Emperor Yu Ci Ming even once.

"Wouldn't you say this is like offering a warm face to a cold backside?" Zheng Fan said to A Ming beside him.

"My lord, perhaps the Jin Emperor's guards were too strict," A Ming analyzed.

Zheng Fan shook his head and said:

"The Jin Emperor will definitely have the proper respect. He opened the Nan Men Pass to lead the Yan army into Jin and crush the two great clans, which can be said to be a great contribution to the Yan Kingdom. The Yan Emperor can't be too wary of him, at least not openly. And even if there's surveillance in secret, now that they've entered Jin territory, it's impossible for Yu Ci Ming to have absolutely no chance to come and see me."

In the end, this political matter is like Xi Men Qing looking at Pan Jin Lian: both sides have to be somewhat interested in order to cooperate.

Now it was clear that Zheng Fan was acting alone.

Because the other party was an emperor, Zheng Fan didn't believe that he didn't even have this level of awareness. A general who was about to be sent to Jin as a city guard voluntarily joining your team to travel together... the meaning was very clear.

But the Jin Emperor still maintained this attitude, which meant that his own level wasn't valued by the other party.

In other words,

Who the hell do you think you are?

Reality, too damn hurtful.

"My lord, don't be annoyed. He will regret it in the future," the blind man said to comfort him.

Zheng Fan shook his head and said:

"I myself am fine, and I don't care about this bit of face. It's just a pity for Xiao Liu Zi (Little Six), who had his own family's assets confiscated to help me arrange this trip together."

This was like someone spending a great deal of money to set up a meeting for you, wanting to help you connect with someone, but you didn't get anything out of it.

"My lord, there's no such thing as truly getting everything you want in this world. The Sixth Prince has always been very understanding, he will understand."

Zheng Fan nodded and said:

"I think so too."

After separating from the Jin Emperor's team, Zheng Fan's team began to head northeast. Jin had recently been annexed, and many Yan officials and military leaders were arranged to come in. There were even many generals from the Zhen Bei Army who were retained. It wasn't really a division or disintegration of the Zhen Bei Army, but purely a fulfillment of the original promise. After all, the desert was bitterly cold, and if they had a choice, not many people would be willing to keep eating sand in the desert.

Of course, there was still a full *zhen* (army division) of the Zhen Bei Army led by Marquis Zhen Bei himself back to Bei Feng County. The Eldest Prince was not called back, and seemed to have been directly dumped in the Marquis Zhen Bei's residence by the Yan Emperor.

In the eyes of outsiders, the Yan Emperor's intention to have the Eldest Prince succeed the Marquis Zhen Bei was very obvious. In the eyes of the *fanzhen* (regional military governors) of other countries, this kind of behavior was a bit too unsightly. However, the relationship between the Yan Emperor and the Marquis Zhen Bei was really extraordinary, and the Ji family and the Li family had always had the habit of raising each other's children together, which could be considered a tradition.

But despite this, it was almost impossible to completely control nearly half of Jin in a short period of time. Li Tian City, where Marquis Jing Nan was located, and Qu He City, where Li Bao's troops were stationed, were the old nests of the Wen Ren and He Lian families. With these two points as radiation zones, the Yan people had already built their own administrative system. Apart from some cities having garrisons, most of the Jin territory was actually still in a state of "free-range."

Therefore, there were naturally no post stations, and Zheng Fan had nearly two thousand people here, with even more horses, so the post stations couldn't accommodate them anyway.

However, the problem was easy to solve. Zheng Fan directly sent someone to knock on the door of a *wubao* (walled village) and stated his identity.

The *wubao* leader was also very cooperative. Everything from grass and firewood to wine and meat was brought up. He was clearly over sixty years old, but he kept bending his back in front of Zheng Fan, calling Zheng Fan "you old sir" with every breath.

Circumstances were stronger than people. The Yan people were now the new masters of this territory, so they naturally had to serve them carefully.

Zheng Fan accepted all of this.

However, he still rejected the *wubao* leader's suggestion to send his granddaughter to his tent to warm his bed at night.

Sitting on the bed, looking at Si Niang who was making the bed for him, Zheng Fan couldn't help but laugh:

"The customs here, sending daughters and granddaughters at the drop of a hat, is really a bit unaccustomed to."

"My lord can just accept her."

"There's no need for that."

He didn't want to say any more sweet words. Sometimes they were quite boring, because you knew that the person in your bed was an old driver whose speed was faster than yours. What kind of romance hadn't she seen? How could you deceive her?

"There will inevitably be women around my lord in the future. My lord doesn't need to worry about this servant's feelings. This servant is willing. However, this *wubao* leader's granddaughter is indeed a bit too low-class."

Think about it, when this servant sits on the grand master's chair in the future, and a group of princesses and commandery princesses call this servant 'sister' in unison, oh my, that would be quite beautiful too."

"I don't like being a stud."

When Zheng Fan used to draw comics, he rarely drew harem-type stories.

"Which man isn't unfaithful?" Si Niang was clearly very open-minded. "Besides, my lord, you've been spreading seeds all along, but you haven't actually planted any."

"Want to try?"

"Isn't it better to take it slow, my lord? Peeling it off layer by layer, slowly exploring, step by step, developing one position after another, that's what makes it interesting, isn't it?"

"Mm, you're right."

Whatever you say is right, I definitely wouldn't dare to disagree.

Zheng Fan lay on the bed, looking at his own hands. Because he had been practicing with the saber all the time, he could clearly see the calluses on his fingertips.

Si Niang sat down beside Zheng Fan, took a pair of tweezers, and began to help Zheng Fan cut his calluses.

"Cutting them won't do any good, they'll still grow back in a while."

"But this servant feels sorry for them."

"Alright."

Just then, there were footsteps outside the tent. The person was deliberately making noise with their footsteps, proving that this person wasn't the blind man.

Suddenly, Zheng Fan thought of something. Every time the blind man came to find him when he and Si Niang were alone, he always timed it perfectly, never ruining anything.

This didn't mean that the blind man was lucky, but that this old silver coin must have scanned them himself.

Zheng Fan felt that when Mo Wan recovered a bit more in the future, according to Mo Wan's soul-body settings, it would be necessary to counter the blind man's scanning, so that this guy wouldn't just scan around when he had nothing to do.

"My lord," Liang Cheng's voice came from outside.

"What's wrong?" Zheng Fan asked.

"Just now, a messenger came from the east, and when they saw we were Yan soldiers, they voluntarily reported the news to us."

"What news?"

"Situ Lei, the new family head of the Situ family, has ascended the throne, established the state name 'Cheng,' changed the era name to Wu Ping, and the Situ family has already sent troops out."

"What the hell?"

Zheng Fan sat up straight from the bed.

The Situ family had started directly? So extreme?

"Then... then are we still going to Sheng Le City?" Zheng Fan asked.

Sheng Le City was located on the border between Jin and the Situ family.

Liang Cheng was silent on the other end.

"Speak!" Zheng Fan urged.

"My lord, the messenger said that after the Situ family launched their attack, because there weren't many Yan troops stationed on the border, and many cities didn't even have garrisons, many forces in Jin surrendered and submitted to the Situ family."

"Don't tell me..."

Suddenly, Zheng Fan had a very ominous premonition.

"My lord, Sheng Le has fallen."

"..." Zheng Fan.