Chapter 1 Zuo Jiqian

Zuo Jiqian's appearance here was somewhat surprising to Zheng Fan, yet not entirely unexpected.

After the assassination at the funeral of former General Xiao Dahai,

the Jingnan Marquis sat on the threshold in front of the mourning hall,

with Zheng Fan and Zuo Jiqian kneeling below.

Because of Zuo Jiqian's family background, the Jingnan Marquis even made small talk with him.

It was impossible for Zheng Fan not to feel a pang of envy at the time. After all, whether in ancient times or later, having a good family background could make anything easier.

But looking back now, on that day, the Jingnan Marquis and Zuo Jiqian also discussed the Zuo family's patriarch. Their conversation, while clearly showing the proper respect between superior and inferior, still radiated a sense of harmony and regard between families of similar standing.

Damn,

what was the Jingnan Marquis really thinking at the time?

Zheng Fan figured,

probably he was looking at a small quail about to be cooked?

Zuo Jiqian was currently confined inside. Actually, it wasn't really confinement. The convicts here were treated reasonably well; no one abused or mistreated them.

What truly punished them was probably the immense sense of loss, from being someone of high standing to being a prisoner of low status.

This kind of contrast was enough to drive a person mad.

Zheng Fan looked at the captain beside him and asked,

"What's the status of the Zuo family?"

"The entire clan has been reduced to slavery."

Zheng Fan nodded. If they had been sentenced to extermination, Zuo Jiqian wouldn't be here now.

The convicts sent here were all those whose families had been enslaved.

His Majesty the Emperor was merciful, giving them a chance to work hard again to earn freedom for their families.

But for those whose families had been exterminated, the family members who were officials elsewhere wouldn't have a chance to survive.

After all, in the entire Great Yan, there was only one Jingnan Marquis, and His Majesty the Emperor only trusted this one Jingnan Marquis.

This was a great purge. Zuo Jiqian in the enclosure reminded Zheng Fan of the Soviet Union before the German-Soviet War, when they were also busy purging their own generals. This was one of the reasons why the Soviets collapsed so quickly in the early stages of the war, according to later generations.

However, Great Yan didn't need to worry about this too much. Although Zuo Jiqian, the former garrison commander of Ji Tui Fort, was now being "sold off."

The Zhenbei Marquis's mansion had suppressed the barbarians for a hundred years. Zheng Fan, who had worked as a civil servant in Beifeng County, knew very well the relationship between the Zhenbei Army and the Marquis's mansion. It was so close that water couldn't seep in, nor could a needle be inserted.

As for the Jingnan Army, it had been handed over to Tian Wujing shortly after the Yan Emperor ascended the throne more than a decade ago. Over the years, all the generals promoted in the Jingnan Army had been decided by the Jingnan Marquis alone.

The two most elite field armies of Great Yan would not be affected by this purge of aristocratic families. Even if there were effects, they could be almost ignored.

So, looking at it this way, at least from more than a decade ago, or even earlier, these three brothers had been wearing the same pair of pants.

"Lord Zheng, Lord Zheng!"

Seeing Zheng Fan start to space out, Zuo Jiqian became anxious.

Zheng Fan regained his senses, looked at Zuo Jiqian, and sighed helplessly.

The Huo family members had been secretly saved by Xu Pangpang by opening a back door. Although a group of clansmen huddled together were not easily divided and disintegrated, there were advantages and disadvantages. It was estimated that many warlords would be interested in them.

With war imminent, whoever had high-quality soldiers under their command, whoever had immediate combat power, could earn military merits sooner. The seven hundred people of the Huo family were a well-trained small army. They needed to kill enemies to regain freedom for their families, and Zheng Fan also needed to rely on them to earn military merits. Not every warlord had such a strong desire for possession and control.

But for Zuo Jiqian,

looking at the hundreds of people sitting on the ground behind Zuo Jiqian,

Zheng Fan believed that

this wasn't another back door that Xu Pangpang had left for him; it was purely because… they weren't selling well.

First of all, although Zuo Jiqian was from the Zuo family, the Zuo family's foundation wasn't in Yinlang County. Zuo Jiqian was the former garrison commander of Ji Tui Fort, and those who had been sent here with him were the subordinates who had followed him from the Zuo family to take up their posts in Ji Tui Fort.

If the Huo family was a group of simpletons who knew nothing,

then Zuo Jiqian's group was a group of simpletons who had eyes and minds.

Even though he had been stripped of all his positions, which of these warlords dared to take him in?

After taking him in, who would be in charge?

So, it wasn't hard to explain why Zuo Jiqian was so excited when he saw Zheng Fan. As an unsalable product, he was very anxious!

He really hoped he could be sold!

If he couldn't be sold, then he and the two hundred or so Zuo family members around him would really have to go and become laborers.

How could laborers earn military merits? How could they regain freedom for the women, children, and elderly in their families?

By relying on ten or twenty years of hard work?

Zuo Jiqian was also clear about why he wasn't selling well. For so many days, he had gone from being somewhat reserved at the beginning to swearing to the heavens at the end, almost kowtowing to acknowledge a master, but the warlords, whether their official positions were higher or lower than his, still didn't dare to accept them.

Zheng Fan, Zheng Fan could!

Zuo Jiqian knew Zheng Fan's background,

although the background he knew was wrong,

but,

it didn't matter,

switching the north and south seemed to make no difference.

It wasn't Zuo Jiqian's fault for being so humble; if Zheng Fan didn't take them in, they would really have to become laborers.

Zheng Fan pointed at Zuo Jiqian.

The captain, a confidant of Xu Wenzu, naturally knew the close relationship between his lord and this Garrison Commander Zheng,

so he reminded,

"Lord, you want them?"

His tone was suggestive.

He meant: We're on the same side; I won't trick you. Think about it again.

A'ming and Si Niang, disguised as a man, stood behind Zheng Fan. They wouldn't express their opinions.

Anyway, even if their lord brought Lu Bu back to the fort, it wouldn't be their headache. They weren't responsible for training soldiers. They were even happy to see Blind Bei and Liang Cheng have a headache.

The relationship between the seven Demon Kings, apart from Demon Maru, that lazy bum who relied on his father, the other six all had a bit of a feeling of concubines vying for favor.

In fact, Zheng Fan thought so too. Anyway, he wasn't the one training the soldiers, and he had a lot of confidence in Blind Bei and Liang Cheng.

The advantage of being a leader was that you only needed to know what to do next, not how to do it.

"I'll take them."

"Thank you, Brother Zheng, thank you, Lord Zheng!"

At this time, the Zuo family members behind Zuo Jiqian seemed a little incredulous that they had actually been bought, and immediately excitedly came over to salute Zheng Fan through the fence.

Honestly, Zheng Fan was a little embarrassed to accept their salute with peace of mind. A month ago, they were still his colleagues, stationed together in the fortresses of the Yan Kingdom, but now they were in such a situation.

Of course, it was difficult to feel too sorry for them, because a person's emotions were limited, and they had already been exhausted on the way back from Yanjing to Nanwang City.

It could only be said that

under the tide of every great era, there would always be many pitiful people buried.

"Alright, since you want them, I'll have someone issue you a warrant."

"Thank you for your trouble," Zheng Fan said.

At this time, Si Niang, disguised, took the initiative to step forward to accompany the captain to call the clerk to complete the formalities. At the same time, Si Niang stuffed a money bag containing gold into the captain's hand.

The captain was a little surprised, but still gratefully accepted it.

This was a detail, and also life experience. Zheng Fan would still hesitate in the imperial palace about whether to give Eunuch Wei some money, but Si Niang knew exactly who to give money to and how much to give. After all, she was the proprietress who had opened countless clubs.

At this moment, Zheng Fan walked to the fence where the Huo family was located.

Sometimes, you couldn't help but admire the Blind's long-term vision, although it seemed strange to use long-term vision to describe a blind person.

But it was precisely because the Blind had fully participated in and modified the construction plan when the Sixth Prince's men came to help build Cui Liu Fort that the construction style of Cui Liu Fort was very strange.

The fort itself was fine, but a piece of flat ground was deliberately cleared outside the fort to build barracks.

Therefore, Cui Liu Fort could accommodate more people. If they couldn't live in the fort, they could live outside. After all, Zheng Fan and others had never thought of holding the fort to the death and renaming Cui Liu Fort "Zheng Retreat Fort" when the enemy troops really pressed down.

Although the barracks had been built, and the population limit had been raised, the Blind hadn't rushed to recruit peasant soldiers. He had long guessed that elite soldiers with their own levels would be delivered to their door for free.

Therefore, Zheng Fan could also eat the two or three hundred people of Zuo Jiqian and the seven hundred people of the Huo family.

He didn't care about the digestion problem.

Oh, right, it seemed like there was a silly Huo family member who had been very aggressive in provoking him earlier?

When Zheng Fan walked back again, he found that the silly was already being pressed to the ground by an old man with half-white hair. His face was swollen, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth, he must have been slapped twice.

After the old man saw Zheng Fan walking back, he continued to press the young man under him with one hand, and placed the other hand on his chest, sincerely saying:

"Please take us in, Lord."

The old man's prestige should be very high. The seven hundred or so Huo family members behind him immediately followed the old man's movements and saluted Zheng Fan.

The young idiot under the old man still stubbornly twisted his neck and glared at Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan believed that if he wasn't standing here now, and it was Liang Cheng instead,

Liang Cheng would coldly walk over with his knife and kill the idiot Huo family youth in front of everyone in the Huo family.

If it was the Blind standing here,

the Blind would say with a smile:

"Kill him yourselves, or I'll randomly select twenty of you to kill."

Then he would add:

"Oh, if he commits suicide, I'll randomly kill thirty of you."

But Zheng Fan didn't have such a perverted hobby. Anyway, whether it was the people of the Zuo family or the people of the Huo family, they would eventually be handed over to the Blind and Liang Cheng to transform.

Why should he dirty his hands?

"What's your name?"

"Replying to your Lordship, this sinful one is Huo Guang."

"........" Zheng Fan.

"Huo Guang?" (light)

"It's Huo Guang (wide), your Lordship, but if your Lordship likes, this sinful one can thank your Lordship for changing my name, and from now on I'll be called Huo Guang (light)."

"No, no, no, I wouldn't change the name your parents gave you. Alright, prepare yourselves, and follow me in a while."

"Thank you, Lord, for taking us in."

Huo Guang breathed a sigh of relief. His own people weren't hard to sell. Many warlords came here wanting to take them, but they were all told by the clerk that it wasn't allowed.

When they were communicating, Huo Guang learned that this was actually the meaning of the General Commander.

Obviously, the General Commander of Nanwang City was keeping them for his confidants.

This was a good thing for the Huo family. Following the General Commander's confidants would at least make it easier to earn military merits, and at the same time, the probability of being pushed up to be cannon fodder would be lower.

Lowering his head,

he glanced at the young members of his family.

This kid was a direct descendant, but his brain couldn't figure it out. The Huo family was gone, so why bother with the airs of the main branch?

............

The number of soldiers exceeded the quota, which was against the rules;

but in the face of connections, the rules were like the pure singers in the red tent, just shouting "I only sell my art, not my body."

Zheng Fan declined the good intentions of the Nanwang City garrison to send a hundred riders to escort him back to Cui Liu Fort. At the same time, because Cui Liu Fort hadn't been notified in advance, they didn't send any barbarian cavalry either.

Just like that,

Garrison Commander Zheng, with two people, A'ming and Si Niang, was escorting nearly a thousand convicts towards Cui Liu Fort.

Moreover, these convicts didn't have any shackles on them.

Zheng Fan rode on his horse, leisurely, seemingly not worried about a "Great Chu will rise, Chen Sheng will be king" situation.

A'ming and Si Niang rode their horses behind him.

The team moved in an orderly manner.

The Zuo family was in the front, and the Huo family was in the back. They even automatically lined up in formation. Although they didn't march in step, at least they looked orderly.

Their families were controlled by the imperial court. They could only rely on military merits to gain freedom for their families, so the probability of them escaping was small.

Because they still had ties, because they still had hope.

Even if they wanted to escape, where could they escape to?

Escape to the interior of Yan? That would be courting death. First of all, let's talk about whether they could pass the Jingnan Army of Yinlang County. Then, there was an old man from Beifeng County holding a hoe to dig up their roots.

Escape to the south?

If it were normal times, it wouldn't be impossible, but these convicts weren't stupid. They came from aristocratic families, so they weren't foolish commoners. Of course, they knew what His Majesty the Emperor had exiled them here to do.

Let alone giving up their families to seek their own freedom, escaping to Qian, and then before long, the Yan army would attack again, then what was the point of escaping?

In fact, it was because they also knew in their hearts that they also had a touch of pride as Yan people, or rather... confidence. It wasn't to say that they had much sense of belonging to the emperor or this country after their family was destroyed, that was nonsense. But there was one thing they believed: the Zhenbei Army had been transferred from Beifeng County, destined to go south to fight Qian. Could the Qian people... withstand it?

Of course, nothing was absolute.

Especially with Zuo Jiqian's appearance. Perhaps because Zheng Fan was too influenced by the old version of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, he always felt that Zuo Jiqian might be that kind of person.

But Zheng Fan wasn't worried. Anyway, if he could detect something, then Blind Bei could naturally detect it too.

However, Zheng Fan didn't really like this atmosphere.

When he woke up, he was on the land of Great Yan. After getting used to the local customs and people here, he would always have a little emotion. In addition, although the Yan Kingdom was despised by the other three countries as Yan barbarians, the Yan Kingdom was indeed different from the Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Qing dynasties in the familiar history. You could say that it wasn't so cultured, but it really wasn't so barbaric. At least Zheng Fan could fit in.

But now, with the start of the trampling of aristocratic families, the barbaric and primitive aura that permeated this country was becoming more and more intense.

"Guess what the Lord is thinking now?" A'ming said to Si Niang.

"Being sentimental, like a poet walking on the frontier, always having countless sorrows."

"Then will he have to write poetry below?"

"That's the problem. We can all recite the poems that the Lord can recite. He can't copy out any pleasure."

"That's true."

"Actually, the Lord is really pitiful. At home, he was abused and instigated by you. After going to the capital, he was educated by the Jingnan Marquis again."

"You're habitually excluding yourself again."

"At least, I can bring some physical and mental comfort to the Lord. Can you?"

"........" A'ming.

A'ming's gaze suddenly condensed.

"You understand what I mean, right?"

"Understood."

A'ming made to spur his horse to catch up with Zheng Fan in front, but Si Niang grabbed the reins.

"What are you going to do?"

"Care about the Lord's body and mood, chat with the Lord more, and do my duty as a subordinate."

"Don't rush."

"You're not in a hurry?"

"I'm also in a hurry, but we still have to wait."

"Why?"

"Because I think the Lord is deliberately... guarding against us this time."